HSE Researchers: Young Russians Have Sufficient Knowledge About Money but Lack Money Management Skills
Adolescents and young adults in Russia today are well versed in financial terminology: they know what bank cards, loans, interest rates, and online payments are. However, as researchers at HSE University have found, real money-management skills remain poorly developed among most young people. The study ‘Financial Literacy, Financial Culture, and Financial Autonomy of Youth’ has been published in Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes.
Improving young people’s financial literacy remains a key priority of government policy, with the aim of developing competencies needed by the new generation to use the full range of financial products effectively and safely.
However, it is important to understand the current situation in order to develop effective measures. Olga Kuzina, professor at the HSE Department of Economic Sociology, and Artem Abduramanov, doctoral student at HSE ICEF, examined what financial autonomy is, its level among young people, and which socio-demographic characteristics it may be associated with.
The researchers analysed survey results collected as part of HSE University’s Economic Behaviour of Households project. The respondents included school, college, and university students aged 15 to 19 from major Russian cities. The study authors examined whether young people have developed the knowledge, habits, and attitudes needed to manage their personal finances confidently and responsibly—earning money, managing it competently, keeping records, and planning expenses.
To assess these skills, the researchers introduced a measure of financial autonomy rated on a scale from 0 to 9 points. It takes into account work experience and earnings, the habit of keeping records of income and expenses, attitudes toward budget planning, the propensity to save, and the level of financial knowledge.
Olga Kuzina
'As a result, the average financial autonomy score was only 3.8 points, indicating a low level of financial autonomy among young people. At the same time, almost one in two survey participants is confident that they know perfectly well how to handle money,' Prof. Kuzina noted.
The study also revealed that personal experience plays a key role in shaping financial autonomy. Adolescents who already earn money themselves better understand the value of money and learn to handle it more responsibly. The level of financial autonomy is associated with factors such as age, university education, the mother’s level of education, and obtaining financial information via the internet. However, according to the authors, financial literacy classes taught in schools have only a short-term effect.
The researchers also highlighted gender differences: on average, boys were more financially autonomous than girls. This may be due to differences in gender roles, as young men tend to start working earlier and are more likely to have greater freedom in managing money.
The authors emphasise that their findings are important for designing effective financial education programmes. According to the researchers, if the government truly aims to improve financial literacy, it is necessary not only to teach about money but also to create opportunities for adolescents to gain real-life financial experience.
'People of all ages need to improve their financial literacy, but developing this skill in young people aged 15 to 25 is especially important, as stable habits and ways of thinking—a kind of financial character—are formed during these years. How an individual learns to manage money in their youth largely shapes the financial decisions they will make later in life,' summarises Prof. Kuzina.
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